BP to lay off 4,700 employees and 3,000 contractors

Next month will be a critical moment for BP's CEO Murray O'Chinclos, as he will present the long-delayed new strategy to investors. The growing energy producer has fallen so far behind its fellow oil giants that it is now worth less than half of Shell. It is even being caught up by companies that once made up only a small part of its value.

O'Chinclos' predecessor, Bernard Looney, adopted the "net-zero" strategy, making the mistaken forecast that global oil consumption would decline. BP Plc's value dropped yesterday to just over $80 billion, about two-thirds less than in 2006. This is significantly lower than the $136 billion market capitalization of American ConocoPhillips, Bloomberg notes.

BP Plc is cutting 4,700 jobs within the company, about 5% of its workforce, and more than 3,000 contractor positions, Murray O'Chinclos informed employees yesterday, as the London-based energy giant seeks to reduce costs.

More cost-cutting measures are planned for this year and beyond, O'Chinclos said, and since June of last year, the company has halted or paused 30 projects to focus on those that generate the most profit. O'Chinclos said the key to these plans is the company's push for digitalization, including the implementation of artificial intelligence across all departments.

At the beginning of 2018, BP's market capitalization was about $152.6 billion. In 2020, the company made a sharp pivot towards decarbonization and began investing more heavily in green energy. However, these actions did not help the company increase its market value. As a result, by the beginning of 2025, BP's market capitalization had fallen to $80 billion.